Side Dish II - Working with Students' Families
As a teacher it can be tempting to view yourself as the singular educational entity in the lives of your students. Incorporating other people's ideas and viewpoints can be a time-consuming challenge for even the most skilled professional. The reality of the situation though is by allowing student's families to enter the DNA of your classroom you are doing more to help students and yourself achieve your ultimate educational goals. A consistent message of education in the classroom and home helps reinforce the learning students do in the classroom, and makes it far more possible for them to succeed. Students' families are not a hindrance to our professional work. Students' families are an integral part of their child's education, and they should be included in the process. Teacher-Family Relationship Building When a new school year begins student’s families are an unknown variable to teachers. Taking the first steps towards getting to know them can be daunting. It is important to remember though as far as they are concerned I am an unknown variable. The most they know about me is what subject I teach, and whatever information they can find on the school's website. Sometimes it also helps to remember I am the individual in the situation professionally obligated to be a part of this relationship. This can add a level of expected formality and professionalism on my side of the interaction. Regardless of the specific driving force in the situation it is my responsibility to make the effort to make first contact, and make the student and family feel comfortable as part of the classroom community. Starting Strong Ideally, I would be able to contact student's family a few days before Open House night through email. This first contact would talk about how excited I was to have their student in my classroom the coming semester, and how I hoped they would be able to make it to the event. I would also include some basic information about myself and my classroom, and finish up by giving families my contact information. If families have any questions about this information in a follow-up email I would be happy to address their questions. I would send a second round of emails shortly before the first day of school. It would start by reiterating my excitement over having their student in my classroom. I will continue by letting them know that I am interested in hearing their input throughout the course of the school year. I will also inform them I intend to keep them updated on the academic and behavioral progress of their students every now and then during the school year. I will also promise to contact them if any issues come up during the course of the semester so that we can find ways to overcome them as a team. Finally, on the first day of school I will also send papers home with students that will help make communication simpler. On my part it will include all of the ways families are able to get in contact with me if they have any questions or concerns. It will also include a part where families will let me know their contact information, and which these methods they prefer I use to get in touch with them. I will also include a large blank section where they can include any information they believe I should be aware of. They can get this back to me by having their student bring it in, mailing it to me, send the information in an email, or come schedule a time to come in personally. This way they can use the method they are most comfortable getting that information to me. I like to have many different options for communication with families. This way they can choose which they are most comfortable with or fits best around their busy schedules. There may be times where I recommend one of these options specifically due to the importance of information. For instance, if something seems too personal for email or phone calls I may ask families to schedule a time to come into my classroom personally. In general, though, I want families to feel they are always welcome to contact me, and if they are unfamiliar with a specific form of communication they will not feel alienated because of it. Staying Up-to-Date Getting in touch with families right off the bat is important, but continuing to build a positive teacher-family relationship will require more support. A student's family needs to know they are being supported, because their success is incredibly important to them. This usually involves keeping them updated on the specifics of what are happening in the classroom, and allowing them to be in on decisions about their students whenever possible. There are a few specific things teachers can do to help families feel included from the beginning and end of a course. The following are a few I plan to use as a teacher. Website A good thing to have as a teacher is a personal website that informs viewers of what has, is, and will be happening in my classroom. The link to this website should be included in the syllabus sent home to families, emails, and anywhere else I can put it to let both students and families know it exists. On this website students and families should be able to find homework assignments, handouts, and any other pieces of work/activities needed to complete work. This way if students lose something or claim they did not know something was due I can point them towards the website they are aware exists. It also allows families of students to feel up-to-date with whatever is going on. As an added bonus if a website has the ability to have password protected areas I can include student's grades and current missing assignments. This way both families and students can refer to this list and know how the student's grades currently stand in the classroom. This can only be included if I am able to make each student's progress/grades individually password protected though. The only people who should have access to this information is the student, their guardians, and I. Updates Families of students have the right to be informed of their student's progress throughout the course of the semester. They are a part of the student's educational support team after all. They should know how the student is participating in the class both academically and behaviorally. This information can come at the request of the families at any point in the semester. But, as their teacher and fellow support team member I should also be keeping families updated every now and then through emails, meetings, and phone calls. This support can also occur for a variety of different reasons. Usually when someone thinks of a teacher making a call home it is for negative reasons. The student has been misbehaving in class or their grades are slipping. Of course, keeping families up to date with negative information is an important part of the process. The goal is not to get the student in trouble though. The goal is to work with families and their student to determine the reason for their behavior or the slipping grades. This way we can work together as a team to help fix the problem, and get the student back on the right track. Only receiving negative information about their student can be a hard thing to put a family through, even if I have the best of intentions. It is also important to contact families about the big and small victories their student have achieved every now and then. Maybe they had been struggling in my classroom, and have recently been able to pull their grades up. Maybe they are a student that has trouble turning in big projects or giving presentations, but in their last assignment they did it without too much prompting on my part. This is something I can let families know about in an update. This way I can show the student can have the positivity of their work appreciated both in the classroom and at home to reinforce the behavior. Questions One of the simplest things I can do as a teacher to help a family feel included is just be there to answer questions they may have. Maybe they don't understand why a student was given a specific grade, they need to be cleared up on what an assignment is asking their student to do, or they are looking for other means of support for their student. Part of my job is making sure I am able to give this support to them the same way I am there to give answers to students in the classroom. In the syllabus I will make it clear I am always open to questions through my many means of communication. Also, it never hurts for me to ask families a few questions every now and then. It helps me learn more about their students, while also showing them I value their input. The biggest part of the positive teacher-family relationship is being there for each other in pursuit of helping students achieve in my classroom. Resources Pease, Jennifer S & Loftin, Katie (2017) EDIS 5030: Secondary Curriculum & Management. University of Virginia, The Curry School of Education Weinstein, C. S., Romano, M. E., & Mignano, A. J. (2015). Middle & Secondary Classroom Management: lessons from research and practice. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education. Chapter 7: Working with Families